File storage. I had problems with it, big time. No idea where everything was and no idea where I should put them. Until Martijn Engler came along. Martijn is a Dutch Apple Coach which knows, and has a lot of experience in, a lot about file storage. He developed a system where you will never lose a file again. There are some real nuggets in this 45 minutes long episode!

Items Mentioned in this Episode:

• Obviously: Dropbox!
• Getting Things Done by David Allen
• Selected Sync
• Free Extra Storage on Dropbox
• Martijn Engler on Twitter: @martijnengler
• Stefan Knapen on Twitter: @StefanSSF

Please subscribe below to the podcast to get automatic updates:

• Click Here to Subscribe through iTunes
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Thank you a lot for your support. I would love it if you could leave a rating or review. Please leave me an honest one on iTunes here. It will help the show and it’s ranking in iTunes immensely! I appreciate it!

Next?	Stefan Recommends
View the StudySuccessful homepage.	9 ways to get motivated for college – The ebook by Stefan Knapen (free)
More on the author.	Learn More, Study Less – Relearn learning
Get in touch.

This is a guest post by the writing team of BusinessInsuance, if you would like to feature a guest post send me an email!

I know. Not everyone prefers listening to music while studying or reading or writing or creating art or whatever. But I think most of us can agree that it’s nice to have music around for activities like these. They can help set a pace for your project, break up the monotony, and (in their greater moments) inspire us. Of course, not all music provides the optimal environment or setting for creating or digesting words and ideas. Some music is too distracting or abrasive while other music might just put you in the wrong mood. This is why it’s important to have an extensive arsenal of a variety of musical styles that fit your every aural need in your quest for knowledge or creation. So without further ado, below is some of the best music to accompany your writing, reading, and studying endeavors.

Sigur Rós

What music is better for working and proving something of yourself than an epic dream-like post-rock band from Iceland that uses a hybrid of Icelandic and English and bowstrings on their guitars? This band has a variety of track lengths, but most of them are well beyond the five minute mark, which lends the music well for writing or any extended focus activity. Most Sigur Rós songs, like “Glósóli” linked above, begin with a very soothing, beautiful opening and just build upon that opening with a rich arrangement of sounds that just get bigger and bigger until you feel like the song is representing the most important moment of your life. In short, Sigur Rós sets the perfect soundtrack for doing activities that are important to your life, and they inspire.

Most of Sigur Rós’ albums are great for any quiet creative or knowledge work, but in particular, Takk…, Agaetis Byrjun, and (). Their most recent album Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust actually has less epic buildups and more contemporary songwriting; both are great albums but not as ideal for writing or studying.

Do Make Say Think

While Do Make Say Think (DMST) falls under the post-rock genre, it sounds quite different than most post-rock bands. DMST employs more of a jazz aesthetic to its sound, using plenty more horns and two drumsets playing simultaneously; the band is mostly instrument although they do use vocals sparingly on rare occasions. DMST does build some epic ten-minute songs, but they are less linear in buildup and tend to have unexpected turns (hence the jazz description). DMST also has a distinctively more rock-band sound, utilizing much more grunge or dirty sounding guitars with less reverb and delay. If you feel like whatever post-rock you’re hearing might be putting you to sleep, try out DMST. The sophisticated musicianship and unexpected songwriting work great in accompanying any creative activity.

DMST has a beefy discography full of great musical moments that are sure to inspire; if you are unsure where to begin, I would advise starting with Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn and following that with & Yet & Yet or You, You’re a History in Rust. Their most recent album Other Truths is also riveting but may be a little too heavy or rock-sounding for some people’s attention spans while studying.

The Field

Let’s take a quick break from post-rock, and look at something entirely different but just as inspiring. The Field is made up of one electronic musician from Stockholm, Sweden named Axel Willner. As far as genre can be discerned, Wikipedia calls it microhouse and ambient techno. I also hear trance elements as well and wouldn’t be surprised if someone described it as intelligent dance music (IDM). The Field usually creates lengthy tracks mostly over five minutes (and some just a bit longer than ten). Sometimes voices are sampled, but they are used distinctively as instruments and wouldn’t distract someone reading how a lyric-heavy band or singer would.

To best describe The Field’s sound, imagine a simple beat on a loop that gradually morphs textures every few seconds until a living, breathing, and moving song emerges. The beat will drive your mind and focus as you work while the subtle variations will keep your mind from becoming restless and wanting to change the music to something else. Since they have a limited discography of only two full albums, I recommend checking out both the critically acclaimed debut From Here We Go Sublime and the more recent Yesterday and Today.

Yo La Tengo

Some of you may be thinking, “Yo La Tengo has lyrics. I can’t read or write while someone is singing in my ear.” Well I’ve got news for you: Yo La Tengo has a good number of instrumental albums. A lot of the instrumental tracks come in the form of soundtrack work, but I think even the soundtrack material has a distinctive Yo La Tengo sound. For those unfamiliar, Yo La Tengo is an indie rock band with a wide variety of sound that fits mostly in a mellow arena of dream-rock. Sill, despite many songs with a lulling go-to-sleep tone, Yo La Tengo also sports a good amount of (almost jarring) noise, distortion, and extraordinarily creative guitar solos in its music. Also, even on albums that do have plenty of lyrics, Yo La Tengo’s lead singer has a very modest voice that I’m sure many won’t find distracting at all while studying.

If you’re looking for Yo La Tengo’s instrumental work, check out the albums The Sounds of the Sounds of Science and They Shoot, We Score (scores for four separate films). For those that can’t work while listening to lyrics, there are also a few instrumental tracks on their regular discography that could enhance your drive; these include “Tired Hippo,” “Pass the Hatchet” (excellent guitar solo!), “Daphnia,” “The Story of Yo La Tengo,” and “The Fireside.”

Flying Lotus

Flying Lotus is the product of an incredibly talented experimental music producer who’s actual name is Steven Ellison. While his music tends to run along a BPM much slower than most electronic music, it is stocked full of innovation, surprises, and rich textures that you won’t even notice the slow tempos. His music style takes on a wide range of jazz, downtempo, dubstep, and just plain experimental (wonky also comes to mind). His beats tend to jitter in perfect precision, thriving on a chaotic feel to keep your mind interested while having just enough order to keep you bobbing your head. There is simply nothing that comes even close to imitating Flying Lotus. Perfect for studying; perfect for dancing at a party.

For those looking for a good entrance to this artist, I would start with Los Angeles or Cosmogramma. Cosmogramma has a bit of a rounder, smoother sound with may render itself better for studying, but Los Angeles is far from disruptive. His debut 1983 is also extremely interesting and innovative, but doesn’t have that flow and finesse of the later two albums.

Battles

For anyone unfamiliar with this band, allow me to warn you fully before first listen: This music may induce seizures. However, it may also induce extremely vibrant thought or drive you threw even the most monotonous workflow. Battles is a heavy-hitting math-rock group that loves utilizing loop and distortion pedals. Their music usually builds on a repetitive beat or musical idea but often takes unexpected turns, sometimes resulting in the perfect combination of layer adding and beat turnarounds. While Battles is not for everyone, I strongly recommend giving it a shot. I’m sure it’s not the most ideal study music for everyone, but when it works, it works extremely well.

Battles has a fairly limited discography. I recommend both its full length albums although I personally believe Mirrored is by far the band’s best work. Gloss Drop is still plenty engaging, and be sure to check out the various confusingly titled EPs (IP C, B EP, and EPC if you can find them

.

Jon Hopkins and Brian Eno

I hate lumping these two extremely talented musicians together, but I only do so that I have enough space for other artists. Also, they’ve become long-term collaborators since teaming up in 2004, and their work together produces amazing tracks like this. For those wanting one word describe the music of these two artists: Ambient. However, both musicians have created material spanning far outside the constraints of that genre (sometimes even dipping into relatives of dubstep). It’s extremely difficult to describe their sound, particularly since Eno’s career extends all the way into the seventies (he has a whole wikipedia page dedicated solely to his lengthy discography. I will say that they both arrange and polish massive soundscapes that can make you feel like you’re the only person around for miles or that there is some lurking figure sneaking around behind you.

Where to start. For Hopkins, I recommend checking out any of his full length albums as his career as a musician is only budding. For Eno, I’d start with Music for Airports, which is great for any quiet, concentration work and then start working your way through his ambient career, just going on intuition. He has so many albums available that just listening through a few seconds on each one will give you a glimpse of which albums you make like more than others.

Nine Inch Nails

Nine Inch Nails has so much material ranging from noisy industrial rock to more eerie acoustic work. It’s only natural that it has some great studying music. Not all of Nine Inch Nails lends itself to great studying music, but there is definitely some great material out there for getting your thoughtful work done. While some of the sound can be a bit grating, even the noisier moments all conform to solid rules of great songwriting. Trent Reznor always seems to deliver.

A great place to start for studying is their double LP work called The Fragile. The album transitioned away from the gritty and distorted industrial sound of The Downward Spiral and headed more towards an ambient direction full of soundscapes, ambient noise, and much more melodies and harmonies. This album does have lyrics, but you can tell there is definitely an instrumental emphasis. Of course another solid choice for studying is Ghosts I-IV which is an entirely instrumental concept album full of soundscapes and soundtrack-like work.

This content was recommended by the writing team at BusinessInsurance.org special thanks!

Next?	Stefan Recommends
View the StudySuccessful homepage.	9 ways to get motivated for college – The ebook by Stefan Knapen (free)
More on the author.	Learn More, Study Less – Relearn learning
Get in touch.

To become the successful student we want to become and to become the best person we can every be there is a constant need for information. You need to be a sponge, you need the urge to suck up all the information you can get.

But how do you gather all that information? I’ve received this question multiple times over email and in real-life. And during the past years and especially during the last half a year (I have a smartphone in my possession now for half a year) I’ve developed a system how I can gather all the information I want to read on semi-autopilot. The semi is for the human filter (me) which is always needed when you are sorting out information you would like or not.

The Sure-Fire Way To Read (And Share) EVERYTHING

When I say ‘read’ please read ‘consume links’. This is because I use this system not only to read articles, but also to consume video’s, websites and everything.

This method will enable you to read all the interesting things you come across on the internet, with internet I mean everything: also email, twitter and other social media. What is special about this method is that you not only have a way to capture everything online, but this works also offline.

You know the feeling of course. You are on Twitter, somebody shares an interesting article about for instance Google Plus. You click the link only to find out the article is around 4000 words. You know you would like to read it, but you don’t have the time right now. Four thousand words take around 12 minutes to read when you are an average reader (maybe 8 when you implement some speedreading techniques) and this is simply too long. So you want to bookmark the page or something only to never look at your bookmarks again.

Offline this is even worse. You are talking to a friend with an interesting article he mentioned. You jot it down somewhere, hoping to find it with Google and you lose the paper you’ve written on it.

Not with this system! Let’s get into it.

Your Toolkit

• an Android/iOS smartphone. We are going to use a couple of apps which require a smartphone. Also the reading itself will be done mainly on a smartphone itself!
• Google RSS Reader. This RSS reader is simply still the best reader for me to subscribe to all of my RSS feeds.
• an IFTTT-account. IFTTT stands for ‘If This Then That’ and is a service which connects different services (like Google Reader and Read It Later) to each other. The service is now in Beta and I have 25 invites. The first 25 commenters who ask for an invite will get one. And a smart move would be if those lucky people with an invite will invite others as well (you get 5 invites to give out).
• Read It Later. Both the phone app and the web app. If you want to share the read articles on your iPhone you need to get Read It Later Pro, to only read the free app will be sufficient.
• Twitter. Obvious there should be a way to get all the interesting information to you. Therefor is Twitter of course. With an app like Tweetdeck you can even create filters to filter out irrelevant content. I can work with the normal Twitter app (necessary for Read It Later!) and some lists made for this workflow.
• Captio. Captio is an iPhone app which enables you to send notes immediately to an email address. Combined with the following tool the ultimate productivity to-do system. For Android users there is Jotter.
• Toodledo app. Combined with tags and Captio a great application to fix to-do lists! Android users, there are 3rd party apps which you can use!
• Just a little discipline. If something requires ‘a lot’ discipline it won’t work for me. This is just a little and I can stick to it, so I know for sure you can too!

Gathered everything? Alright! The best way to show you guys how I use this system is to make a flow-chart. You can find the flowchart below (click to enlarge). I will write it down as well.

My reading system is Read It Later. This is where everything comes in and this is the place where I can share everything to Twitter/Tumblr/whatever. I use Read It Later as well to read all the articles of course. Read It Later is the center of my Reading System.

Offline articles are captured through Captio. On a post at Stepcase Lifehack I explaind how I connected Captio with Toodledo with email. That post will explain a lot of things I am doing right here, so it is highly recommended to read first! Again the link: Editing To-Do Lists on the Go: Integrating Captio with Toodledo

Every note captured on Captio will be automatically send to Toodledo. I use the %read tag to sort make these notes stand out from the rest of my notes/to-do’s. So when somebody says ‘Stefan, did you read the article on X or X?’ I will say no and ask for the title of the article. Save the name of the article as a note through Captio (captio is one of the most used apps on my iPhone). If they don’t remember the name, ask if they can send you the article over email. Because they won’t remember this (please, refer them to my to-do system article, I want people not to forget these things!) save this as a note yourself. Write something down like ‘Asking Tom for the article on Google Plus %email’. When they get to their email again they are online anyway and can look the article up real quick.

Online articles are split up in 3 categories: 1) ‘Surfing’, 2) Social Media and 3) RSS Feeds.

1. Surfing articles. Of course sometime you are just wandering across the internet. And sometimes you stumble upon something awesome and want to read it later. You need to install the Read It Later bookmarklet on your browser for this situations. When you come across something awesome just hit the ‘Read It Later’ button and it will be saved to read later! (Install this bookmarklet also on your mobile browsers!)
2. Social Media. This means most of all  Twitter of course. You can install a special app within Twitter with Read It Later where you can hit ‘Read Later’ and the link will be saved to read later. So this is really convenient to do. But what is the most important with Twitter is to create a list. I’ve a list called ‘Interesting’ with people who don’t very often tweet about what they are eating or where they are heading. This list contains most of all people who share interesting stuff. So I have all the ‘link-potential-people’ in one place and this means I only spend a short time on Twitter to scan if I won’t miss anything!
3. RSS Feeds. If you come across one blog more often and you know (most of) the articles are going to be interesting subscribe to it with RSS! I have around 50 subscriptions to different blogs. Once a week I go across all of them and scan articles real quick. If the article is read-worthy I ‘star’ it which means it will be downloaded in Read It Later automatically with IFTTT. The way I’ve set this up is explained below.

Sharing happens from within the Read It Later app. If the article was good, I like to share it on Twitter, basically because I want other people to read it as well. I tweet both in Dutch (my native language and the language of the country where I live in), so I try to read the Dutch articles during the morning and tweet it right out (and tweet in Dutch, the US people will be sleeping) and I read the English articles in the evening, when the American fokes are awake as well!

For sharing you need the Read It Later Pro app, I think it is worth the 4$, because it is a service where I would like to pay for anyway and I think when you are sharing important content your social value will increase. So yes, it is a little investment, but worth the money.

Read It Later System: The Flowchart

Click on the flowchart to enlarge and see how the flowchart is build up. This is exactly how I approach all of my readings.

I check Google Reader and Toodledo once a week (sunday night preferably) to see what I want to read in the upcoming week. The thing with Google Reader is that the feeds are interesting but not every post will be interesting. So I can serve as a human filter to filter out the non-interesting articles and filter in the interesting only

Click the image to enlarge or click here.

Setting up the system

You don’t need to be tech savvy for this system, although it will help. The services are mainstream and made for people without any knowledge of code and everything. But I want to share a couple of links to make sure you set up everything correct.

1. Saving from the web to Read It Later with a bookmarklet
2. Saving from Twitter app to Read It Later with a bookmarklet (explained in the app)
3. Sharing from Read It Later to Twitter (explained in the app)
4. Connect Captio with Toodledo
5. Setting up IFTTT is explained below.

Setting up IFTTT with Google Reader and Read It Later

To use IFTTT you will need an invite. You can get on the list at IFTTT.com or you can have one of the first 25 comments on this post asking for an invite to get one of the 25 invites I can give away.

Setting up IFTTT is really easy. Below you will see screenshots of how I did it.

Create a task

If this will be: starring an item on Google Reader

and then that will be: save to Read It Later.

Missing Things

This system will always be changing. And it will needs some changes, because it isn’t really flawless yet.

• I miss tags. In one way or the other, tags aren’t really coming through. Need to find a way to get that, if you know of a way, please shoot me an email.
• The articles weren’t really ‘findable’  afterwards. Now, you can actually send from Read It Later to Evernote and that is what I do right now. I’m going to think of another way as well, because this requires a little too much right now (I know, I’m lazy).

This is a guest post by Cathy, if you would like to send in a guest post, please visit the contact page!

Exams are the bane of a student’s existence; most of us don’t mind learning because it’s part of the college experience, but when it comes to cramming for tests and exams, we feel the pain because we tend to do it at the last minute. Almost every student is pressed for time when preparing for an exam – some cope pretty well while others end up stressed out and drained of energy. If you belong to the latter category, here are a few tips that are sure to help you study better when you’re low on time.

1. Choose what’s important: The eve of an exam is not the time to try and learn your entire textbook, so if you know what really matters as far as the exam is concerned, it makes the studying process easier. The best way to choose what’s important is to have followed your lectures closely, taking notes when your professor was teaching and pointing out the significant aspects of the subject.
2. Study smart: The art of learning efficiently is a trick that some students are able to apply very well – they scan through a lesson and are able to summarize it in a few points. When you’re able to break down an entire lesson into a list of points, each of which will in turn help you remember what the lesson is all about, you’ve become a smart learner as well. This takes practice to perfect, but with time and experience, you’ll soon become a pro.
3. Use mnemonics: This was a favorite method of mine when I had very little time to study – I would use random things to remind me of answers to certain questions which required memorization. Acronyms work wonders when you’re trying to remember a list of 20 points; break them down to five each, and make four five-letter words with the first letter of the most important word of each point. It sounds complicated, but once you try it, you’ll find that it’s a great way to remember points or items on a list.
4. Avoid distractions: With time not on your side, it’s time to find a place that’s low on distractions and high on peace and quiet. Arm yourself with all you need for an intense study session – coffee, snacks, whatever it takes; just ensure that you don’t waste your precious hours by taking unnecessary breaks for food and drink or to chat with friends who just show up. Also switch off your cellphone (tell your loved ones that you have to study so they don’t get worried if they can’t reach you), and if you’re using your laptop and the Internet, stay away from your email and social networks.
5. Avoid all-nighters: I know college students are (in)famous for these, but when you’re sleep-deprived, your brain decreases in efficiency. So even though you’ve prepared really well, you may have trouble recollecting answers during the examination. So get at least a few hours of sleep before you head out to write your test. If you’re a night owl, stay up late and wake up just in time to get to the exam venue on time, and if you’re an early bird, get to bed early and wake up before the sun to spend some time with your books before it’s time to set out for your test.

This guest post is contributed by Cathy Thomas, she writes on the topic of online computer technician training. She welcomes your comments at her email id: cathy83.thomas<@>gmail<.>com.

Smiling and laughing a lot makes you appreciated by a lot of people, right? No. It shows that you want to please everybody. So yes, it does, but it also shows that you are weak. That you need other people their opinion in order to be someone really. In this post I will explain a little bit more about body language in general.

Body language – the importance

Around 93% of communication effectiviness is determined by non-verbal cues. If 93% of your conversations is being dominated by your body, you might want to take control of it, in order to make it transfer the same message you want to transfer with your words.

For example. You can tell somebody you hate him, while you are smiling. It actually looks like you are telling someone that you love him and he will need to think about it first before he understand that what you are saying isn’t that nice at all!

Another point. If you are trying to convince a group of people, because you think you have a legimimate point and you are biting on your nails, shuffleing with your feet, you won’t make a good figure. They won’t take you serious and neither would they take your point serious.

Practise your body language!

In the following piece I will learn you a couple of tricks about body language. But you need to practise this. At home or in a public place, either way, just trying is the best thing you can do. For instace, eye contact is one of the most important factors if you are trying to talk to somebody, but if you aren’t used to eye contact, it can be really hard. So get out of your house! When you are walking at Wall Mart, look EVERYBODY in their eyes. Practise, practise! Just train yourself in makeing eye contact. Just the couple of seconds are enough to make yourself less uncomfortable. Train this and it will help you in the future, yes, this is a promise!

7 quick tips in body language

1. Your head movements. When you are just standing, does your head move a lot? Do you keep your head oblique? Keep your head still. It will give you an authoritarian look.
2. Control your eyebrows. Putting your eyebrows in the air shows that you are amazed – or shows that you didn’t understand the point he just explained. Keeping them down shows frustration. Keep them neutral and you will look neutral.
3. Take your time. Don’t look on your watch when you are in a conversation. It either shows you aren’t interested or that you are in a hurry. Either way not good. Just take your time for the conversation, or at least – make it look like you take your time for the other one. It will increase the quality of your conversation and the quality of the image other people have of you!
4. Stay stable. Don’t switch legs every time, stay stable on one place. The way you stands represents the way you are mental state: Are you stable or not? Doesn’t matter. Make it look like you are stable.
5. Eye contact. Look the other person in the eye. Is there a lot to explain here? It is all about focus, attention for the other person. Look straight in to somebody’s eyes, look so straight in their eyes that it looks like you are looking straight into somebody’s soul. Bill Clinton used to enchant people like that, read this interesting article on his eyes.
6. Claim your space. If you sit with crossed legs, you don’t have an open posture, you will look nervous, scary. Just claim your space. Stretch your arms, sit with your legs opened up. Make yourself a little vurenable and you will look certain of yourself.
7. Don’t smile. As explained above, laughing will make you look like you are just in there to please whoever you are talking to. Don’t. Look serious and you will look like you can take the situation.

Concluding thoughts

I didn’t came up with the list above. And to be honest, I didn’t knew about a couple of them. I use my eyebrows a lot, as I use laughing a lot. But since I’ve practised in the points mentioned above, I feel more confident. And the thing is, when you feel confident, you look confident. And that is exactly what we are trying to reach over here.

Take this into practise, you will love yourself for it later. Good luck!

This is a guest post by Mark Davies, if you want to do a guest post as well, visit the contact page!

If you thought school was hard the first time round, you learn that it’s harder when you go back after many years away from it. As an adult learner who’s taken on the initiative to complete your education, earn a new degree, or pick up new skills, you’re likely to falter if you’re not really prepared for all that school entails. Learning is actually easier as the years go by, because you have a world of experience to augment the theory that school teaches you. However, you also have much more going on in your life than when you were a child and school was your only responsibility. So if you want to taste success as an adult learner, here are a few study tips that will come in handy:

1. Plan your schedule: Adult learning is all about balancing your work, family life, social life and education without neglecting any of them. So unless you work out a schedule and stick to it, one or more of these aspects of your life is going to suffer. Schedules help you allocate time for all the things you want to do, and they give you a sense of satisfaction when you adhere to them.
2. Don’t take on the impossible: I know there are people who insist that nothing is impossible, but if you aspire too high and take on more than you can handle, you end up in a mess. You may want to complete your degree in the shortest possible time even as you take on more responsibilities at work for a higher salary and juggle family commitments to your spouse and children. However, if you’re running yourself ragged by doing too much at once, you not only make mistakes but also add stress to your life. Stress is a killer in more ways than one, and no amount of money or fame is worth inviting it into your life. So take on only what is practical, and leave the rest for a later time.
3. Be prepared to make a few sacrifices: If you’ve added education to your already-full life, you may have to give up something that is a regular part of your life now. Some people choose to limit social and leisure activities until they’ve completed their education while others ask their employers to cut them some slack at the workplace. It’s up to you to decide whatever works for you based on your circumstances.
4. Set aside time every few days for your lessons: Doing a little every day is much more effective than trying to do it all one fine day on the eve of your exams. So no matter how busy you are, spend at least half an hour with your lessons to ensure that you stay in touch with what’s going on in school. When you’re an online learner, you must assume responsibility for yourself because your teachers are not going to push you to improve or perform well.
5. Stay up to date on your coursework: And finally, stay on top of your lessons and coursework by attending all online discussions and lessons. Be aware of submission dates for assignments and projects, keep track of exam dates, and establish a network of your virtual classmates so you can exchange ideas and confirm dates and schedules.

This guest post is contributed by Mark Davies, he writes on the topic of Masters Degrees Online. He welcomes your comments at his email: markdavies247[at]gmail[dot]com

I am just going to say it, although I might jinx it: This is one of my better articles. Please read it, share it and comment on it! I’ll love you for doing so!

A lot of my articles fall under the category of ‘Observations‘. A lot of my articles are about observations I make, about personal development for students and some sort of study hacks. But how about the implementation? I mean, one of the things I try to stress the most is evaluating yourself: Having the knowledge of why you do certain things. But what to do with that knowledge? How can we put that knowledge into action. Or in general, how can we act more and think less?

Routine-driven action or Passion-driven action

Brett from PluginID recently wrote a nice post, as did Scott H Young (the guy behind Learn More, Study Less, a great book + video course, highly recommended!), see the post here. There are two kind of ways on how you can take action. One is routine-driven, you need to do certain things on a certain time in a certain place. The second is passion-driven. You do that you really want to do right now!

I am not going to discuss what the better one is, as we are talking about taking action right now! I’ll leave that for another time. Besides, the post of Brett will be sufficient.

Routine-driven action tips

If you think routine-driven action is the thing for you, you should have some sort of system. There is a great book called ‘Getting Things Done‘ (GTD), a book which explains the best method on working on projects. The question is always ‘what is the next action’. This is really a routine type of thing. GTD is hard to implement though, as you need to change a lot of habits right now, so for this case I would go with ‘Zen To Done‘, this is a book by Leo Babauta and he also talks about the GTD system, but he has a more efficient way of implementation.

So, read these books and learn how you can have a system of your own, a system that gives you the opportunity to have a routine-based action system!

For now, in the time you need to read the books, there is something you can do right now! Routine-based actions means you need to have goals every day. You need to accomplish something every day. So you need a goal-setting system.

Goal setting systems

I want to give you two systems. Again, these are not systems I invented.

• The weekly/daily goal system, by Scott H Young (this is discussed in the Learn More Study Less course, again: highly recommended!). You set goals every week. What do you need to accomplish this week in order to proceed on your project or what actions give meaning to your life? Write them down. Then, decide what actions you need to take every day in order to take steps forward. For instance, my weekly goal would be ‘read everything about the extrapyramidal system’. Then my daily goals would be something like ‘read chapter 3′. So I have a clear goal every day I need to accomplish every day in order to reach my weekly goal!
• The numbers goal system, by Glen Allsopp. Glen is a young entrepreneur and also the founder of PluginID. He also wrote the book ‘Cloud Living’, about living from the internet. Glen is one of my biggest inspirations in the internet. He isn’t a student or anything, but his enterprising mind is a big inspiration. Anyway, he has a system for the goals he has. He has his calendar and writes numbers on them. Every number means something else. For instance, I would have 1 for ‘writing an article’, 2 for ‘reading a chapter of neurology book’, 3 for ‘reading fiction for half an hour’ and 4 for ‘exercise’. My calendar could look something like the picture below. So everyday I can see clearly what I need to do and when. When I am done with something I can scratch it of my calendar and have a satisfied feeling!

In conclusion read ‘Getting Things Done‘ and ‘Zen To Done‘ and get a good idea of what a routine-based action system is and how you can do this. Besides that, implement a goal setting system right now!

Passion-based actions

This is a completely different thing, passion based action is the action you see in films a lot of times. Basicly, this is the ‘sexy’-action. You know what I mean, this is making a big cup of coffee and pulling an all-nighter just because you are so passionate about it, you really want to accomplish this right now and in a good way. The idea pops up in your head all of the sudden and you go crazy, you are going to work for 13 hours straight, just because you CARE SO MUCH! Yeah, this is of course a great way.

Passion-based action tips

Alright, I need to be honest. I am not a big expert on this. I am passion-driven most of the times though, so I know something!

• Have as less obligations as possible. If you want to work on something for 13 hours straight, you need as less obligations as possible. Simply because working for a lot of hours straight is not possible when you need to go to the birthday of your mother. You can’t pull an all-nighter when you have an important meeting the day after. Try to have as less obligations, meetings and appointments as possible in order to reach optimal passion-action!
• Don’t lose focus. The thing with passion-driven people is that they are always enthusiast. This is also the case with me, so I need to force myself to say no every once in a while. I need to keep my focus in order to complete something every once in a while! So, say no and focus on your core tasks!
• Don’t forget to take care of yourself! ‘I don’t have time to exercise’, ‘I’ll just eat a pizza real quick’ and ‘I can sleep when I am dead’ are sentences you will hear from passion-driven people. But don’t forget to take care of you every once in a while. Mens sana in corpore sano. You need to take care of yourself in order to reach you top-potential!

Act more, instead of thinking

We are coming to the concluding part. The only thing that is left to say is that taking action can be hard for a lot of people. Why? Because dreaming is more easy. Thinking about study patterns is more easy than implementing a pattern. Trying out new ways to study is more easy than adopting one way and getting the best out of it. I’ve experienced this myself. Overthinking let to the failure of my first test this year. A bummer, but I’ve definitly learned something again.

Taking action instead of thinking isn’t something we need to think about a lot, we just need to do it. You need to get in the flow of action. Everyday you should scratch something off your to-do list, everyday you need to do something what gives value to your life. Action is the way to get somewhere, thinking is not. Thinking can only improve the result and the journey. But you won’t complete the journey without taking the actual steps.

For now, read the recommended books, set up a goal system and figure out how you can make the most out of your passion-driven actions. And act. Do it. Take action, that is the only way you will get somewhere! To your success!

This post took me a long time to write and a long time to develop the ideas behind it. Please share/tweet/stumble/facebook it and comment on it! I’ll love you for doing so!

Have you ever wanted your own website? Ever thought about owning the #1 spot when you Google yourself? Good. Because I’ve been working on a (free!) report on how to build your blog – as a student.

Students should think about their future and take the internet serious when they are exploring their career possibilities. When your future boss will Google you before an interview, what will he find? If you own your own blog (like I do with stefanknapen.com) he/she will find YOU in the first spot. This means you have control over how you look like online.

Besides this, having your own blog is a way to proliferate yourself. I’ve been blogging for almost two years now and it is one of the best things that has happened to me. Getting your thoughts out, on paper (or video) is a way you can explore yourself, as your thoughts. A blog is a place where you can get in contact with others, where others can share their thoughts on your thoughts! Great right. If you need more arguments, I’ve wrote a post once called ‘22 reasons to start a blog as a student‘, as it is one of the most popular posts, I highly recommend you to read it!

The best thing is, a blog isn’t a lot of work. In this guide I show you a way how you can start a blog within an evening, with almost no costs. The costs of a blog are around one cup coffee at Starbucks a month. Equals nothing. When you look at what you get in return, missing that cup of coffee a month is definitely worth it.

So if you want:

• Control of your Google results
• A go-to place for people who want to know something about you and
• Proof in a form of a portfolio where you can show your expertise

check out the free report on how to start a blog as a student right now over here (http://bit.ly/htbabaas/), I hope you enjoy it. Good luck in getting online!

I am looking for cases! So if you are going to start, shoot me an email (author[at]studysuccessful[dot]com)!

Next?	Stefan Recommends
View the StudySuccessful homepage.	9 ways to get motivated for college – The ebook by Stefan Knapen (free)
More on the author.	Learn More, Study Less – Relearn learning
Get in touch.

This is a guest post by David. Interested in Guest Posting? Visit the contact page!

In the stressful economic times, people are seeking ways to increase their income, save money, invest and build wealth. Many experts have used self help books to increase their income significantly. These books provide money management advice for individuals. To gain prudent advice on how to manage money, consider perusing several of the publications listed below for ideas and tips.

1. The Intelligent Investor (New: $29.99, Used: See below)

This poignant and influential publication has taught its readers the basics of investing. Warren Buffet has endorsed this book and called it one of the best investment books ever written. Ben Graham addresses both the novice investor and the experienced business investor. Depending upon the needs of the reader, the book addresses the range of investments that investors may enjoy.

The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing. A Book of Practical Counsel (Revised Edition) List Price: $21.99 Price: $9.09 Read Reviews

2. One Up On Wall Street (New: $16.00, Used: See below)

Peter Lynch is a reputable mutual fund manager that uses his book to impart investment knowledge to the reader. This book will teach every reader how to make money using basic principles that most people would already know.

One Up On Wall Street : How To Use What You Already Know To Make Money In The Market List Price: $16.00 Price: $6.94 Read Reviews

3. The Essays of Warren Buffett (New: $32.50, Used: See below)

Professor Lawrence Cunningham selected the best of Warren Buffett and arranges them in his book by topic and relevance. Through the essays we are going to learn about management, investing philosophy, business, the use of stock options, economic and accounting goodwill.

Essays of Warren Buffett Price: $15.00 Read Reviews

4. Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings (New: $14.93, Used: See below)

Philip Fisher outlines the characteristics of a sound business. Historically, he is an important financial thinker. He teaches his readers to pair his advice with others, such as Graham’s ‘value’ method.

Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings (Wiley Investment Classics) List Price: $21.95 Price: $11.89 Read Reviews

5. Security Analysis (New: $60.00)

Professor Benjamin Graham wrote the original Security Analysis in 1934. This book has gone through five editions. Over one million copies have also been sold. This lengthy book is teaching its readers about the value of particular investments and how to analyze the investments. This book is recommended for serious investors who are interested in building their net worth. The book is over 700 pages. Therefore, readers must have time to commit to reading the publication that is full of sound investing advice.

Security Analysis: The Classic 1934 Edition List Price: $60.00 Price: $31.99 Read Reviews

6. How to be a Billionaire (New: $24.95, Used: See below)

This publication examines the strategies of several America’s billionaires. This book examines historical and modern day billionaires. Some of these individuals include Getty, Rockefeller and Bill Gates. The book is easy to read for most audiences. The author approaches the book from an informative approach.

How to be a Billionaire: Proven Strategies from the Titans of Wealth List Price: $24.95 Price: $14.33 Read Reviews

7. The Interpretation of Financial Statements (New: $30.00, Used: see below)

The author of this book introduces its readers to the basics of reading financial statements. This book was produced earlier; therefore, some of the accounting information and rules are somewhat out of date. However, much of the information is timeless and will still be helpful in twenty years. The book actually provides examples of ratios and formulas for readers to become more familiar. This particular book is geared towards an audience that already has a working knowledge of stocks.

The Interpretation of Financial Statements List Price: $30.00 Price: $14.23 Read Reviews

8. The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom (New: $14.95, Used: See below)

Suze Orman provides a no nonsense approach to achieving financial independence. She will teach investors how to manage their money from a practical perspective. She will inform readers of their retirement and life insurance options. Many readers enjoy Suze Orman’s approach to fiscal responsibility.

The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom: Practical and Spiritual Steps So You Can Stop Worrying List Price: $14.95 Price: $6.17 Read Reviews

9. Financial Shenanigans: How to Detect Accounting Gimmicks & Fraud in Financial Reports (New: $34.95, Used: see below)

After much fraudulent activity on Wall Street, many individuals are concerned with how to detect financial fraud. The fraudulent activity may be detected on financial statements, reports and SEC filings. The book provides several examples from film to technology companies. This book is recommended for serious investments.

Financial Shenanigans: How to Detect Accounting Gimmicks & Fraud in Financial Reports, Third Edition List Price: $34.95 Price: $19.86 Read Reviews

10. The Total Money Makeover (New: $14.95)

Dave Ramsey is the author of Total Money Makeover. In addition to writing the book, he also was a radio talk show host, author and all-around financial guru. He experienced a bankruptcy before giving himself a “Total Money Makeover” and soon after he wrote the book. His strategy involves simple techniques known as the Dave Ramsey Baby Steps including paying off debts smallest to largest plus creating an emergency fund. Saving for education, budgeting and retirement funds are also included in his strategy.

The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness List Price: $24.99 Price: $9.97 Read Reviews

11. Rich Dad Poor Dad (New: $7.99)

Rich Dad, Poor Dad has been a best seller on the list for the past eight years. The book is currently is ranked in the Top 20 books on the market. Kiyosaki is considered a controversial author that provides sound financial advice. His perspective differs from traditional approaches. In this book, he distinguishes what is an asset and what is not. For instance, he does not consider a house an asset, though financial institutions and insurance companies consider them assets.

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money - That The Poor And Middle Class Do Not! List Price: $16.95 Price: $7.51 Read Reviews

David is a writer at one of Australia’s leading websites offering a thorough comparison of credit cards. To read more of David’s writing, click here to read his blog posts about money management.

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Stefan here again, this post is about money! I don’t have a lot of posts about money on StudySuccessful, what do you think about this? Do you want to see more posts about how students can save money or not? Let me know what you think!

Next?	Stefan Recommends
View the StudySuccessful homepage.	9 ways to get motivated for college – The ebook by Stefan Knapen (free)
More on the author.	Learn More, Study Less – Relearn learning
Get in touch.

As any student will tell you, money is tight when you’re at college! So what’s a conscientious student to do when it comes to the tools of the trade? Are cash-strapped students expected to produce first class work on proprietary software at the expense of their already strained budget, or choose from a free, often open source, alternative? I know for sure what option I would take if I was back at college with hardly enough money to cover the bare essentials, never mind the tools of the trade!

If you’re a student seeking software tools that are every bit as good as their paid alternatives, and in many cases superior, then check out these programs. They’re all free to download and install right now!

1. AVG

AVG provides free basic software, which protects computers from spyware and viruses. Whether checking emails, surfing the internet, or maintaining contact with friends and family through social networking sites, ensure the computer has protection. Smart scanning monitors links in real time before users mistakenly enter a danger zone. The software also provides immediate safety ratings for sites.

2. Blender

A necessary tool for the graphic design student includes this free program used to create computer-generated images. Users can design animations, images, movies and videos with this all-inclusive program. Comparable professional programs cost hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. Their website also includes numerous free tutorials covering a wide range of topics.

3. Drupal

Even the most inexperienced individuals quickly build websites using this open source software. Knowledge of HTML and other formatting languages is not required. Create everything from personal blogs to business applications. Thousands of add-on modules provide flexibility and power. Design sites with menus, podcasts, polls, texts and videos and have complete revision ability. Manage, organize and publish all content easily. The program also allows users the ability to link with other websites, including social networking.

4. End Note

This free trial software saves hours of typing when attempting to format accurate bibliographies. The program automatically cites and enters pertinent references while users compose a text. Compile bibliographies, databases, images, PDFs, and references in any language. The integrated Web of Knowledge online database enables research for information relating to the humanities, sciences and social sciences. The software license allows users to install the program on up to three different computers.

5. GIMP

Graphic design students and photography enthusiasts save hundreds of dollars on complicated software by using this free GNU Image Manipulator Program. Similar to Photoshop, the program contain a complete paint suite with editing and gradient tools. The software accepts a wide variety of file formats for image authoring, image composition and photo retouching. Enhance the program’s functionality with over 100 plug-ins.

6. HTML-kit

The HTML kit is a fully equipped editing tool for creating CSS, JavaScript, PHP, HTML, XHTML, XML and other texts files. Create shortcuts for more regularly used codes, making them available through the click of the mouse. Along with this freeware program, download the plugins generator, which increases functionality by allowing users to drag and drop newly designed features.

7. Open Office

OpenOffice, regarded as the alternative to Microsoft Office, is an all-inclusive productivity suite comprised of tools to create and edit graphics, databases, presentations, spreadsheets and a text. The software will be familiar to anyone who has used an Microsoft Office before and installs on any number of computers a user chooses, allowing unlimited copying and sharing. Features include problem reporting and enhancement requests. The download is totally free of charge. Extend the functionality of the software with clipart, software and templates available through the same website.

8. PDFsam

Whether writing a research paper or authoring a book, PDFsam is a graphic user interface program that allows users to split documents into pages, chapters, etc., in addition to merging, mixing or reordering written works. The open source project is free to use and optional donations provide enhanced functionality, including the ability to enter metadata information and encrypt files.

9. TurboCASH

Similar to QuickBooks, TurboCash is an open source entry level accounting program that includes a calendar, point-of-sale and to-do list. Through batch, processing individuals have a complete history log of hundreds of thousands of transactions. Use it to monitor a monthly budget, a hobby, or a small business with ease.

10. X Mind

This specially designed free tool is perfect for brainstorming projects or task management. In addition to customizable themes, X Mind allows users to enter markers, inline notes and hyperlinks to maps. Choose whether the project is viewable by all, exclusive to a few or maintained for private use only. X Mind also contains a spell check function.

This post was contributed by Tom Becker who covers the latest savings accounts for students at one of Australia’s leading independent review websites, MoneyChoices.com.au.

Next?	Stefan Recommends
View the StudySuccessful homepage.	9 ways to get motivated for college – The ebook by Stefan Knapen (free)
More on the author.	Learn More, Study Less – Relearn learning
Get in touch.